Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

The male flower of the Pandanus odoritissimus can weigh two pounds or more. The Pandanus is also known as the Screw Pine due to the swirl of the leaves. It is one of the most useful plants in the tropics. Practically every part of the Screw Pine is used for all type of different purposes: clothing, bowls, housebuilding, food, medicine and fragrance. But it's the wild and crazy flower I'm interested in as a natural perfumer. High, pierceing, radish-y, rosy, green, dirt, glorious, sun-drenched, yet cool as can be - that's the hydrodistilled oil of the Pandanus odoritissimus. Also can be described as hyachinth-honey, fresh floral, addictive. Dilute it down to 1% to have some of the hyacinth notes really release - wow. Male flower only, please - like the male peacock with his technicolor plumage, only the male flower of this tree has the scent. Yes, the lady trees may have the bombastic, grenade-looking fruit, but it's the essence of the male flower that is craved. And co...

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 For those of you who have been following this blog since January, when we first reported on Tony Burfield's watchdog organization Cropwatch challenging the IFRA 40th Amendment, and the European Union regulation of natural aromatics, I am happy to report there is progress. On July 3rd, Tony, along with representatives of the Perfume Foundation, sat down with the representatives of the EU Cosmetics Commission in the first-ever of its type of confab. We take this as a sign of a crack in the ongoing bulldozing effect of IFRA-fueled nonsensical and nonscientific regulation of natural aromatics in natural perfumery. You can read or download a PDF of Tony's report on the meeting here: Cropwatch sits down with the European Union (EU) Cosmetics Commission. Back to lounging on the beach for me - yeah!

Just a taste of what I've been up to: I started selling exotic, and some not-so-exotic, but absolutely knock-out beautiful,exceptional raw materials on my website here. The hyacinth absolute is already sold out, but more is expected soon. Lush narcissus poeticus absolute is also sold out, both due in the end of July. Rose de Mai absolute is on the way, a non-CITES agarwood is for sale - it smells like a very posh leather good boutique, all freshly-sawn wood and buttery, fragrant leather. Vanilla absolute to die for! Heck, I'm even parting with some of my double-infused St. John's Wort oil, an incredible ruby red jewel of an oil for what ails ya. My perfumes have had a slight price reduction after the big June sale, and it's permanent. All of the pure essential oils are suitable for aromatherapy use. I also term these rare essential oils because of the exceptional aroma quality of them. Absolutely knockout in strength and clarity of scent. My most obvious reason for m...

This summer is busier than the past two summers, which were some of the busiest of my life. Lots of obligations in the perfume world, personal goals, and just too much on my plate! So, I've decided to really have down time every chance I can grab it, and the picture above sums up where you should look for me. I'll be there, lolling around, or nearby, having fun, instead of working on this blog. Happy Summer, everyone!

June 1, 2007: The Artisan Natural Perfumers Guild is now the Natural Perfumers Guild. We're celebrating the one year anniversary of the reopening of the Guild with a new name and a new logo, seen above. In the past year 88 wonderful people joined the Guild, supportive and enthusiastic about the art of natural perfumery, helping spread the word, networking amongst themselves and just being supportive. We're also adopting the phrase "Slow Scent" as our slogan. Mandy Aftel, the Founder of the Guild, coined the term for her new book, and is graciously sharing it with us. Here's a great example of how we're all connecting and helping each other and spreading the news about what we do, and who we are: with hours of reading the June Guild newsletter, Blunda Los Angeles store owner Persephenie called Andrea Budje of Aromahead because she wanted her to come to LA from Florida to give a class at her store - all because of a small feature I put in the newsletter withou...

The very-talented Helen of ZenSoaps created this image from a photo of the Grasse variety of Jasmine grandiflorum I have growing in my garden. I find it alluring and mysterious, sensual and spiritual, much like the flower itself. Today is the Full Moon in Sagittarius. White fragrant flowers bloom wildly and profusely during a full moon, and here in Florida, our major flushes of blooms are from April - June, with intermittant blooms throughout the year. I have been harvesting Jasmines - grandi (sparse, it may bloom more in July, for some reason), sambacs - Belle of India, Maid of Orleans, Grand Duke of Tuscany and several lesser-known varieties, like long-petaled Belle of India. Also into the alcohol goes the auriculatum and azoricum, and night-blooming Jasmine, Cestrum nocturnum, and Orange Jasmine, Murraya paniculata. Quite heavenly tinctures they are, too. More like the fresh flower on the vine than the concretes and absolutes we buy from suppliers. I use them to supplement and enhan...

It is my pleasure to announce the first-ever sale on the perfumes of Anya's Garden. The sale is in celebration of three happy events: the six-month anniversary of the launch of Anya's Garden, and the wonderful success of the perfumes, which are lovingly reviewed on forums such as Perfume of Life, MakeUpAlley and others, and the appreciative notes from customers, who write to say how the perfumes create a mood, bring back a memory of a warm summery place, or as in the case of Fairchild, take them to an intoxicating salty, flowery shore in the tropics. This is what a perfumer aims for, at least I do. Not just to create a pretty or exotic fragrance, but to create one that evokes a soulful response, or in the case of Pan, as it has been reported, a real pheromonal response from men. Pan is a hit with the ladies who do not mind a slightly masculine scent, and among gay men, where it is a cult favorite. The ladies say the men flock around them, or give them appreciative stares in p...

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 Cropwatch's latest newsletter reports on the latest madness from bureaucracy run amok regarding perfume and fragrances. http://www.artisannaturalperfumers.org/news.htm You can download the pdf, all 18 pages of the strange, sad story.

I got a call two months ago from an associate editor at Palm Beach Cottages and Gardens Magazine, published by Conde Nast. She said they wanted to put a bit in their "What's New" section for the March issue. The magazine came out on Friday, and I got my copy in the mail today. Pretty good coverage for a perfume line that was only officially launched in December. Click here and follow the link to see my homemade photo positioned above a $730,000 Mont Blanc pen!

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 Time for a break from blogging again. Time to network more with the people around the globe who are aghast at the bad science, bad attitude and outright bias that International Fragrance Association (IFRA) and also the European Union (EU) are exhibiting towards natural perfume materials. Just when natural products are enjoying a 20% annual rise in sales, and traditional products only 3-4% rise, they want to severely limit our access too these gorgeous, lovely natural aromatics. Yes, perhaps some essential oils or absolutes, if used in an excessive amount *may* cause a rash in in some people; wine causes allergies, too, but we don't see the EU limiting it, or banning it. My time has been eaten up by the learning curve necessary to work on this. On Sunday I had to take a few hours to cobble together a printout for an esteemed ethnobotanist and natural perfumer because he is without a computer, and I couldn't just send him links to websites. ...

Tony Burfield's recent work challenging IFRA and the EU has forced them to show their hand, and here is the plain, awful truth, which Tony said all along was their agenda: http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/news/printNewsBis.asp?id=74667 They're insisting that synths are good, and naturals are bad and expensive. Baloney (well, ok, some naturals are expensive, let the market find it's own level.) Funny they cite Calone: it was the first perfume ingredient that ever caused a respiratory reaction from me. For my entire life, despite dousing myself in perfumes that yes, contained some synths, when Calone was introduced, it, and the other harsh synths that followed, caused both me and a lot of the general public to rebel against heavy, harsh perfumes. I had no idea what, at that time, had changed perfume, I just knew everyone was complaining. Before that, I remember people would complain someone was wearing "too much" perfume, but after the age of harsh synths came...

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 1st March 2007 Dear Sirs, Please find attached the petition posted up at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ifra40/ http://www.cropwatch.org/40thpetition.htm . You will note that there are approx. 740 signatories to date, including perfumers, natural perfumers, MD's of aroma ingredient companies, aroma technicians, academicians, soap makers, staff from cosmetic & natural products companies as well as natural products commodity end-users from countries as diverse as Russia, Iceland & USA. There are a number of anonymous signatories, and to avoid any unfair accusations of ballot-rigging or signature duplication, we are quite willing to submit the owner's version of this petition (which reveals fuller identity details), to an independent 3rd party (who will need to agree to absolute confidentiality), if the need should arise. I think you if you read the comments section of the petition - scroll through http://www.ipetitions.com/petit...

Another of the short, fun, or informative posts I've been making for the past few days...here's some great news. Several of the European natural perfumers are taking action and proposing a NP conference in the next year to year and a half in Europe. It's very exciting to see the energy and interest and I just wanted to post a short note about it to put the word out there into the Universe. It seems they'll probably meet informally to plan the event, to get to know each other and work out details, and then finalize the conference details. More announcements to follow. We're discussing this in my Yahoo group,linked in the right column, if anyone cares to chime in and join in.

You scored as Freya . You Scored 100% as Freya Which Norse God or Goddess are you most like? created with QuizFarm